The Memoirs of Rumia
by CandyFish-Productions
Summary: Rumia was just a little girl who got peer-pressured into visiting an abandoned temple at night. Here, she discovered an abandoned rock garden and a love for the dark. She never knew these things could make her become a youkai, but the naïve are not safe from what they do not know. (Better summary: the story of Rumia's life). Not a Team 9 fic.


**My first fanfiction (on this account, anyways)! Words/phrases with * after it will be explained in chronological order in the notes at the end. By the way, since I gained nearly all of my knowledge from playing Touhou, spending too much time on the wiki/Wikipedia, and reading the print works, not all of my knowledge on Japanese culture, Shintoism, Buddhism, youkai, or Touhou characters, will be accurate. I will explain to the best of my ability, but you may want to check an official source before using any of the information. Touhou belongs to ZUN and I wouldn't dare take credit for anything in it. One last thing, please let me know if I'm using honorifics wrong or something. Do I overuse –san? Do I put –sensei in the wrong place? Please please please let me know. And if you can correct anything I get wrong, I would like to know that as well. PM me or review! – CandyFish Productions**

"Can anyone tell me exactly how a kitsune develops?" my teacher asked.

The rest of the class stayed silent. I however, thrust my hand into the air as high as I could. "Yes, Rumia-san?" she said. She hadn't expected anyone to answer.

"All foxes are capable of becoming kitsune. If they get old enough—how old was it supposed to be? A hundred years? -anyways, then they grow another tail. And after a point—I forget exactly when—they can shapeshift by putting a skull or leaves or something like that on their head, yeah?" I answered.

"Thank you, Rumia-san, for that incredibly insightful answer." To this day I still don't think she was serious, nor do I think it's right for a teacher to tease a student like that. I didn't particularly care at the time, as my friends found it hilarious. I laughed along and the class continued.

About halfway through, the kid sitting behind me—I don't remember their name—tapped me on the shoulder. He passed me a piece of paper. It said (roughly, as this particular kid wasn't very good when it came to remembering kanji) that there was supposedly an abandoned temple on the edge of the town, and it went on to ask if I'd like to come. I wrote back using the simplest kanji I knew, not only because of his limited vocabulary, but because my hands were shaking slightly, saying I would probably have to think about it.

I zoned out through the rest of Heida*-sensei's lecture. This didn't make sense to me. Why would they choose tonight to go to an abandoned temple? It surely hadn't appeared overnight. And if it had, it was obviously an illusion, probably made by some tanuki playing a prank. In that case, it an incredibly stupid idea to go. If it really was an abandoned temple, a real one, then surely these kids (I sure hoped this kid wasn't dumb enough to just take me) knew it was practically begging to be overrun by youkai, and that merely by walking in (or setting foot on the property, for that matter) we would be practically walking up to a youkai and begging them to make us into a nice tasty nabe*.

I met him behind the school after class. "Are you crazy?" I asked him sincerely.

"No, I don't think so," he said. He had a group of other kids with him. I think they were all of the kids that would go to the temple that night.

"Are you just stupid, then? Walking into an abandoned temple at night would be suicide!"

"But think about it, Rumia-san! We been doin' some researchin', my friends and I, and I think it should be safe tonight."

"And how's that?" I demanded, skeptical.

"It's still got ofuda* up all over," he said.

"Aren't ofuda a Shintoism thing?"

"I dunno." He shrugged. "But they're up there. We been lookin' around durrin' the day, and I think it's got some pretty nice coverage."

"Couldn't they be illusionary ofuda?" I asked.

Silence. "Can they do that?" the boy asked his friends. I wanted to yell at him. After conferring with his friends for a bit, he turned back to me. "I don't think so. I mean, what'd be the point of em' if youkai could fake em'?"

"You have a point. But do you really want to risk your life on a stupid thing like that?"

"It wouldn't be fun without a risk," he said.

"I'm not going," I said decisively. "And I'm telling your mother,"

"My ma?" He laughed. "Rumia-san, you wouldn't. Wanna know why? All your friends are coming." Upon examining the crowd more closely, I realized that this was, indeed, true. Every one of my closest friends were standing in the crowd, giving me funny looks. I made a sort of "hmmph" noise, to show I wasn't intimidated (despite the fact that I was), and stalked off.

We had wild-boar nabe* for dinner that night. I knelt at the table respectfully and said the required "I humbly receive" as usual, despite the fact that I felt a bit sick and would rather be making some excuse to get up and go to bed. It certainly wasn't helping that, just recently, I had referenced nabe in a conversation about the probable fate of my classmates.

"How was school, Rumia-chan?" my mother asked. I didn't role my eyes as usual, too busy with thoughts of youkai eating children.

"Fine," I said.

"Don't play with your food," my father scolded. I hadn't realized I had been doing anything. I put whatever it was I was messing with in my mouth and reached for another piece, trying desperately not to throw up from the first piece.

"Are you sure you're okay?" my mother persisted.

"Yup!" I said. I forced a smile, and she seemed to buy it. Nevertheless, I finished my meal as quickly as I could, took a quick bath, and scurried back to my room to avoid further conversation, pretending to be practicing some more difficult kanji.

I collapsed on my futon and lay flat, thinking it over, guilt churning in my stomach. I was about to let a whole group of kids walk into a fishy temple at night and probably get mauled to death by aggressive youkai, all because I couldn't work up the courage to ruin their fun and tell an adult.

** I know, short chapter. At least I wrote a chapter at all~! Here are those notes I promised: Heida- This is Akyuu's last name, so I meant for this teacher to be a previous Child of Maire, if that's how the Child of Maire works. Nabe- A type of hotpot where everyone eats out of the same dish, sort of. Maybe. The fairies eat it in Oriental Sacred Place. Ofuda- Like a charm or a talisman. Reimu uses them in attacks, and I believe they can be used as seals or wards. Wild boar nabe- I only heard about this when reading Oriental Sacred Place. The three fairies of light thought it was peony nabe because of kanji similarities.**


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